Money and morals Leading figures debate the place of morals in the financial markets more than a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers
This year is the 150th anniversary of ‘Unto This Last’, John Ruskin’s savage attack on market economics. Andrew Hill looks at what today’s leaders can learn from this moral blueprint of how business and society should function
With City of London church attendance on the ascent, more bankers are questioning the basis on which they earn their keep – but is there room for a ‘risk ethic’?
The certainties of the two sides in the debate on morality and free markets are misplaced, writes Michael Skapinker. Regulation provides the middle way
Morality: suddenly, there seems to be a lot of it about. Bishops are talking about it - Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, recently discussed ethics privately with senior business figures
A call for more ethics is all well and good but its effect will be limited unless self-interest in financial markets runs with the grain of the interests of society as a whole. A free market generally ensures that, writes Philip Booth
Markets have become detached from our moral and spiritual values, as we have been blinded by the short-term gains from globalisation, writes Ken Costa
From Sir John Craven and others. Sir, The undersigned, among many others, were deeply involved in the creation of what is today the world’s largest capital market: the Euromarket
The debate about bonuses and excessive pay is generating plenty of ideas, but there’s something – or rather someone – missing: John Ruskin
Equities and the Church of England
James Bevan, chief investment officer of CCLA, hotly defends the Church’s exemplary record against what he sees as unfair criticism
Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, defends bankers against accusations of greed and focuses instead on ‘immoral politicians’
Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, takes issue with what he sees as the excessive risk-taking and overconfidence of the City, and calls for greater humility when it comes to predicting the future
Andrew Hill, FT city editor, sees great relevance in Ruskin’s polemical book ‘Unto this Last’ to today’s debate on bonuses and the worth of the City
George Soros explores the conflict between market and social values, focusing on the principal-agent problem
Read the full transcript of the Soros lecture
